I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a computing platform for multiple intelligent transportation systems for an automotive vehicle.
II. Description of Related Art
Modern day automotive vehicles contain multiple intelligent transportation systems which operate in the area of active safety, mobility, commercial applications and the like. For example, such systems include collision avoidance applications, such as emergency brake light application, traffic light signal condition, etc. Furthermore, many of these safety applications rely upon dedicated short range radio communication between the vehicle and near vehicles or near infrastructure.
Similarly, modern automotive vehicles also employ intelligent transportation systems for commercial purposes, such as the purchase of goods by the operator of the vehicle and from commercial establishments.
Previously, these intelligent transportation systems have each employed their own dedicated electronic computing unit (ECU) which was designed and programmed to serve a specific function. For example, in modern day automotive vehicles, one ECU may monitor the condition of an oncoming traffic light, a separate ECU monitor the condition of the brake pedal for emergency braking collision avoidance systems while still other ECUs are programmed for the other intelligent transportation systems. A primary disadvantage of these previously known systems is that, since each ECU is dedicated not only to its own system, but also the particular sensors utilized by that particular automotive vehicle, it is oftentimes difficult if not impossible to adapt the ECU for a particular intelligent transportation system from one vehicle and to a different vehicle which utilizes different sensors. This, in turn, increases the overall cost of the development of intelligent transportation systems for new vehicles since the individual sensors and their associated ECUs must be reprogrammed and/or redesigned whenever the vehicle and/or sensor design changes.
A still further disadvantage of the previously known intelligent transportation systems which utilize dedicated ECUs to control the operation of the transportation system is that the additional cost of the ECUs increases dramatically as the number of different intelligent transportation systems increases within the vehicle. This, in turn, increases the overall cost of the vehicle itself.